It is well known that various activities may require the transport of heavy objects or materials using various types of vehicles. In various instances, for example, consumer vehicles such as pick-up trucks may be used to transport heavy loads between locations, with users loading and unloading heavy objects and materials into and out of the cargo beds of the trucks.
It is also well known that loading objects and materials into cargo beds may represent a difficult task, particularly for heavy objects and materials. For example, with respect to consumer pick-up trucks, the cargo bed may be several feet above the ground. As such, lifting objects and materials from the ground into such a cargo bed (or other cargo area) may require significant expenditure of energy, as may lowering the objects and materials after transport. Indeed, for particularly heavy loads, this lifting and lowering may not be possible without machine assistance.